Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Julia's IEP Review

A couple of weeks back, I had Julia's IEP Review meeting, in which her concerns, vision statement and annual goals were updated.

Here's what I included for her parent concerns and vision statement:

Parent Concerns: Our immediate concerns for Julia lie in her gross motor, speech and language, and sensory processes. Specifically, our concerns relate to Julia’s overall muscle tone and balance, comprehension of materials and tasks being presented to her, her social skills and interacting with her peers, and her sensory motor and planning skills.

Vision Statement: Our immediate vision is for Julia to improve her overall muscle tone and balance, comprehension of tasks and materials being presented to her, social interactions with her peers, and overall sensory and motor planning. Looking to the future, we are hoping that this school year will adequately prepare Julia academically, physically, and emotionally for kindergarten.


Julia has four parts to her IEP; general curriculum, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Speech and Language. Within each area, specific accommodations are listed as they apply to Julia's needs.

General Curriculum/Speech and Language:
Extra wait time, short, simple directions after obtaining eye contact, cues and prompts to complete tasks, and cues before transitioning or changes in routine.

Occupational and Physical Therapy:

Encourage prone positions, encourage weight bearing prone positions suich as kneeling, encourage stair climbing, work on vertical service like black board or easel, encourage movement activities and position change.

Each area also has a measurable goal which are as follows:

OT: Julia will improve sensory processing, sensory motor development, and fine motor development.

PT: Julia will demonstrate improved postural strength, proximal stability and strength, endurance and balance.

Communication (Speech and Language): Julia will follow two step directions in small group therapy sessions with 80 % accuracy, and will answer "Why" questions when reading a book or playing a game with 80 % accuracy.

General Curriculum: Given decreasing prompts, Julia will increase her time spent on non-preferred activities through out the school day.

There are of course, all kinds of benchmarks that are listed to achieve these goals.

She will be particpating in the sensory-motor OT/PT group that she has been next year, 2 times a week for 45 minutes each. She will be in a small group speech session for 30 minutes per week and in a co-treat speech group for 30 minutes per week.

Overall, i am pleased with how this will play out next year. Silly me is already getting nervous about kindergarten because it's hard for me to imagine her being in a structured setting for an entire day. I never really had this concern with Emily and Katherine but this is Julia. And Julia? She's just not like Emily and Katherine were at the same age. It's hard to put it into words though. Anyway, worrying about kindergarten now? It's just a little premature!